Breaking News Out of Illinois: Trump Regime Demands Voter Data
The DOJ is demanding Illinois turn over its voter registration information by Sept. 1
The Trump regime is demanding that the state of Illinois provide it with the state’s full voter registration list by September 1.1
This information includes birthdays, driver’s license numbers, and enough of each voter’s Social Security number for the regime to match it with voters and, in most cases, fully identify them.
This is part of a broader effort by newly empowered authoritarian-flavored groups like Judicial Watch2 to suppress Illinois voter rolls. Judicial Watch and two other regime-friendly authoritarian groups previously filed suit against Illinois, complaining that the state had not made “a reasonable effort to cancel the registrations of Illinois voters.”3
According to the Chicago Tribune, the state’s board of elections responded to the deadline by writing back:
“As your letter cites to numerous federal statutes, it is necessary for the board to thoroughly research that authority in order to determine what data can be lawfully provided and whether an intergovernmental agreement to provide that data may be necessary,” wrote the election board’s general counsel, Marni Malowitz. “Given the importance of Illinois voters’ interest in protecting their confidential personally identifiable information, the board must ensure that it is complying with all state and federal laws.”
Michael Gates, who, for some reason, now works for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, replied with a fiery response:
“The electronic form of Illinois’s Voter Registration List already exists and can be easily transmitted to the Justice Department by following the instructions in our letter.”
“Who is Michael Gates?” the curious Ruminato reader wants to know. He’s a Trump sycophant helping to turn the DOJ into a league of henchmen and women hellbent on protecting the pedopresident and threatening the rest of us with 24/7 carnage.
He spent his time as a city attorney for Huntington Beach, California, in Orange County, California, which is one of the few politically reddish urban landscapes in metro California, sparring with California Democrats. Those battles included his imposition of a voter ID requirement for Huntington Beach (later blown apart by Democrats fighting back with a law outlawing such silly local proclamations) and suing California for its immigrant sanctuary policies.
He’s been a diehard Trump supporter since 2015, which means he’s officially been in the pedo camp of human existence for a long time,4 something that must always be mentioned when discussing these barbarians.
When he joined Pam Bondi’s Justice Department in February, he even made a point of affirming his commitment to “Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda” on his Facebook page,5 apparently still unaware that the Orange Fellatio of Flatulance is compromised by Putin, and oblivious to the previous Justice Department orthodoxy of nonpartisanship.
U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, another authoritarian sycophant, is also putting pressure on Illinois to meet the deadline.
Dhillon, according to the ACLU, has a…
“…long record of working to restrict voting rights, transgender rights, and abortion access.”6
What is especially heartbreaking about Dhillon is that her descent into the dark side is different than that of Gaines, the other assailant. She worked on civil rights litigation while on the board of the ACLU of Northern California from 2002 – 2005.
When and how she turned to the dark side is not yet known.7
Update
Thanks to reader Hannah Olufs, I’ve learned that the DOJ has requested the same information from a total of 20 states so far.
Here are some of the responses at the time this is being written:
Alaska
According to Democracy Docket:
On August 4, Alaska provided DOJ its most recent voter registration list.
Read Alaska’s response here.
Arizona
According to Democracy Docket:
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D)… responded June 2, asserting that all state election officials are complying with federal election laws.
On July 10, DOJ reportedly sent Fontes’ office another letter inquiring about implementation of Trump’s anti-voting executive order. JP Martin, the deputy communications director for Fontes’ office, told Democracy Docket that Fontes’ office is “focused on collaborating with DOJ in a good faith manner while ensuring we are following the letter of federal and state laws.”
Read Arizona’s response to DOJ’s first letter here.
Colorado
According to Democracy Docket:
Jena Griswold (D) reportedly provided DOJ with the most current version of its publicly available voter file, along with datasets showing voter history.
Florida
According to Democracy Docket:
DOJ reportedly asked Florida for access to their voter registration rolls, which are available to the public — the state provided access to the department.
This statement is nebulous because I am confident that not even Florida would include partial Social Security information in its publicly available election data.
Maine
According to Democracy Docket:
In response to DOJ’s demand for access to Maine’s voter rolls, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows held a press conference July 29 where she told the DOJ to “go jump in the Gulf of Maine.”
Minnesota
According to Democracy Docket:
In a July 25 letter to DOJ, Justin Erickson, general counsel for the office of Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon (D), rejected DOJ’s demand for access to the state’s voter rolls.
“The Department of Justice did not … identify any legal basis in its June 25 letter that would entitle it to Minnesota’s voter registration list,” Erickson wrote. “Nor did it explain how this information would be used, stored, and secured.”Read Minnesota’s response here.
New Hampshire
According to Democracy Docket:
In a July 25 letter, New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan (R) rejected DOJ’s demand to turn over the state’s full statewide voter roll, citing state law and cybersecurity concerns.
Read New Hampshire’s response here.
Pennsylvania
According to 6ABC Philadelphia:
Pennsylvania turned down the request.
Washington
According to The Seattle Times:
Secretary of State Kim Wyman, a Republican, has stated that she will only release information that is already publicly available.
In a news conference, Wyman said she’s not worried about the request because county auditors have been doing a good job of keeping voter rolls as clean as possible.
“I am sure we can stand up to the scrutiny the Department of Justice can bring,” Wyman said.
Wisconsin
According to Democracy Docket:
On July 2, Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe responded to a DOJ letter outlining “several complaints” regarding the state’s compliance with federal voting laws with detailed answers to the department’s questions.
On July 10, prosecutors from DOJ’s criminal division sent an email to Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski (D) requesting sensitive election data to help implement President Donald Trump’s sweeping anti-voting executive order. However, Godlewski’s office does not oversee the state’s elections. Nevertheless, Godlewski’s office responded to DOJ’s email.
“Although the Secretary of State does not administer elections in Wisconsin, we responded to the Department of Justice’s inquiry by providing information on the only election-related fraud within our jurisdiction — the falsified 2020 electoral certificate submitted by individuals who were not Wisconsin’s duly appointed electors,” Nicole Pegram, deputy chief of staff for Godlewski’s office, told Democracy Docket.
Read Wisconsin Elections Commission’s response here.
Some red states are not waiting for the Justice Department to suppress voting. According to Stateline.org, for example, “Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced in mid-July that his office was sending cancellation mailers to 477,883 inactive registrants.”
Footnotes
Petrella, Dan, and Rick Pearson. 2025. “Justice Department Demands Illinois Hand over Voter Data. Election Officials Are Debating Compliance.” Chicago Tribune. August 23,
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/23/justice-department-illinois-voter-data/?share=0imctchsub2guotac8ig (Gift link)
Judicial Watch is a voter suppression group financed by people like Adam Milstein, a highly deportable 1981 immigrant from Israel. Milstein spends his wads of cash on voter suppression and support for genocidal maniacs like Netanyahu, unaware that ICE might, after they clean out the rest of the country, come for him, too, if the authoritarian regime he loves so much becomes a fixture over the next ten years.
All Survivors understand that enabling is the same as committing the act yourself.
“Michael E. Gates for City Attorney 2026.” 2022. Facebook.com. 2022. https://www.facebook.com/100084070246058/mentions/?_rdr.
ACLU. 2025. “Where Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Nominee Harmeet Dhillon Stands on Civil Liberties | ACLU.” American Civil Liberties Union. February 25, 2025. https://www.aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/where-assistant-attorney-general-for-civil-rights-nominee-harmeet-dhillon-stands-on-civil-liberties.
I could, I suppose, dig deeper to find out, but I don’t care how these sycophants got there.
I hope Pritzker tells them to go fuck themselves. 🙄
MAKE IT STOP!!!!😩
Pritzker needs to redistrict and deport all MAGA